RIVERSIDE: Probes of councilmen could cost up to $98,000

Riverside Councilman Mike Soubirous is one of two councilmen the city is investigated for undisclosed complaints./FILE PHOTO

Investigations into two Riverside councilmen's alleged violations of the city charter could cost taxpayers as much as $98,000, and that doesn't include what the city is paying an outside law firm to oversee the probes.

The city signed two contracts for up to $49,000 each to have Los Angeles attorney Leonard Gumport investigate the complaints against Mike Soubirous and Paul Davis, according to documents released in response to a public records request. That figure is a cap, so the investigations won't necessarily cost the full amount.

Few details are available about the complaints, except that both men are alleged to have created a "hostile work environment" and violated the charter section that bars council members from interfering with the city manager's job or authority over city employees.

Both councilmen have denied any wrongdoing, though they also said they know very little about what they may be accused of.

Riverside is investigating a complaint that Councilman Paul Davis, right, violated the city charter./FILE PHOTO

The contracts to hire Gumport are both signed by Councilman Steve Adams, who is currently mayor pro tem. Outside law firm Liebert Cassidy Whitmore is acting as special counsel to oversee the investigations on behalf of the city attorney's office, but it's unknown how much the city is paying the firm.

Interestingly, the Davis contract (on Gumport's firm's letterhead) is dated April 21, but a letter Davis received from the outside law firm says the council authorized the investigation on April 22.

Any discussion of the investigation would have been behind closed doors, so it's possible the council was contemplating it earlier, but it seems odd (to me, anyway) that a contract was drawn up before the actual vote to go forward - and it's also not clear when Adams signed it. A date scrawled next to Gumport's signature appears to be 4/22.

I have asked the city how much it is paying Liebert Cassidy Whitmore and will report back when I get an answer. It's also not clear how long the investigations will take or what action might be taken if anything improper is determined to have occurred.

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